Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning
Physical Planning and Construction - Physical Planning Design and Management
Purpose and Rationale
Purpose:
The purpose of the qualification is to provide learners with advanced skills for covering all aspects of human settlement planning and sustainable development of the Built Environment. The qualification is designed for those who intend to become professional town planners. The qualification will ensure that learners are well-equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary for them to compete with their colleagues in the profession and in allied professions as they work in tandem towards shaping the growth and development of the built environment.
This qualification aims to develop urban and regional planners who can influence or reshape spatially distorted environments through:
- Prioritisation of allocation.
- The commitment of resources and its uses.
- Management of land uses.
- Research and development of ideas that take social needs and the economy into account.
- Engagement of community needs irrespective of class, race, and gender.
- Creatively solving problems with a view to developing local government capacity.
- Broad understanding of the forces shaping human settlement and distribution.
These objectives will be undertaken within the constraints of social, economic, political, environmental, cultural, institutional, technological, and legal factors.
Rationale:
After the advent of democracy in 1994, South Africa has witnessed tremendously high rates of rural-urban migration, which raises the need for adequate and skilled human resources to deal with the consequences. The increasing rate at which applicants are showing an interest in the existing National Diploma and Bachelor of Technology qualifications each year provides a strong indication of the societal need for higher education to introduce the qualification - Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning to address these needs.
The phasing out of the National Diploma and Bachelor of Technology qualifications has prompted the university to replace these two qualifications in Town and Regional Planning with a three-year professional Bachelor's Degree, called the Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning. The new Degree is a step towards the alignment of all the technologically-based engineering and built environment qualifications offered by the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (FEBE) with the new requirements of the professional bodies responsible for training Urban and Regional Planners.
The South African Council for Planners (SACPLAN) is the statutory Council of nominated members appointed in terms of the Planning Profession Act, 2002 (Act 36 of 2002), to regulate Planning. SACPLAN assures the quality of planning qualifications (such as Degrees and Diplomas) offered by educational institutions. Additionally, registered planners are expected to engage in continuing professional development (CPD). This relates to professional and technical registration because any person who intends to register as a planner in any of the categories in terms of the Act must have completed a qualification that has been accredited by SACPLAN.
Outcomes
- Apply knowledge of design and theory to analyse and arrive at appropriate planning solutions to built environment problems.
- Use relevant technological tools like GIS, AutoCAD, and SPSS in the design and data analysis required of professional planners.
- Manage community participation through identifying community dynamics and applying community participation techniques and facilitating a process of capacity building.
- Monitor land use and development by reviewing and interpreting planning legislations, methodologies, policies and trends.
Assessment Criteria
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1:
- Systematically diagnose and solve broadly defined planning problems using appropriate planning principles, techniques, and methodologies.
- Conduct research to fill gaps in service provision or decision-making in the community.
- Engage with complex built environment issues from a planning perspective.
- Apply scoping and surveying techniques to analyze sites and solve problems.
- Apply knowledge of integrated development principles in planning work.
- Utilize different research plans within the built and natural environment to assist in land use and spatial planning.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2:
- Interpret aerial photographs using GIS.
- Use data analysis software (e.g. SPSS) to create maps and land use features.
- Produce a scale layout and concept plan, labeling features using appropriate computer software (e.g. AutoCAD).
- Understand the meaning and uses of planning tools, including scale rulers for freehand sketching and drawing.
- Apply basic mathematical measurements.
- Use information from town planning schemes annotations to analyze layouts and special plans to find solutions in the built environment.
- Manage and allocate limited resources among competing diverse uses.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3:
- Understand community engagements through needs analysis and balancing community needs with scarce resources.
- Manage planning inputs within a project, focusing on time, quality, and human resources.
- Exercise a leadership role in practice.
- Demonstrate professionalism in undertaking planning work.
Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4:
- Locate land use classification systems and conduct associated spatial analysis and trends.
- Apply town planning legislation and policies appropriately.
- Retrieve and disseminate information effectively.
- Apply ethical principles in planning work.
- Manage urban or regional planning projects considering time, cost, and scope constraints.
Integrated Assessment:
- Monitor learner progress through continuous assessment (CA) at various formative points.
- Set rules for eligibility for supplementary assessments if students do not pass summative assessments.
- Conduct summative assessments to judge learners' competence related to Exit Level Outcomes.
- Express formal assessment results as pass or fail marks.
- Follow Academic Regulations regarding the minimum number of summative opportunities required.
Qualification Details
- Type
- National First Degree
- NQF Level
- 07
- Min. Credits
- 399
- SAQA Source
- More Information
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This page includes information from the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) . Builtneat Pty Ltd trading as Study Start, has modified all or some of this information. SAQA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.